Cafe Roses

Today, I finally went to Talini’s Nursery in Sacramento to find two fabulous center pieces for the enormous cafe garden pots. It seems simple enough but I have been to two other nurserys with very little help and haven’t found just the right plants to take over the beautiful Chinese Lanterns that died in the [...]

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Garden-palooza

The backyard is bustling like any metropolis. The bees are working in the lavender. The hummingbird hangs out in the tall sage and the squirrels are having their own raging bacchanalia in the walnut tree. Every morning the yard is strewn with shells and branches, like a post frat party yard, beer bottles and plastic cups [...]

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The First Lemon

I love Myers lemons. I mean, I really love them. My neighbor has a tree smattered in yellow like polka dots. They never eat them. I take them away in full bowls. I squeeze them in water, baste salmon, stir lemon thyme pasta and occasionally make lemon squares.
Three years ago I properly planted seeds I had squeezed from [...]

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Cafe Flowers (or My Water Cooler)

Today is my two year anniversary of keeping the cafe flowers . Two years ago I sat and sipped coffee beside one of these enormous cement pots. A dead gardenia bush stuck from it’s center while an array of cigarettes and detritus floated about it. It was appalling.

I went inside at the urging of a waitress I knew and [...]

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Oak Trees

I had a rough morning. I came out doors to find my neighbor had dug two grand holes in my front lawn and planted  juniper shrubs awash in  red dyed bark.  I freaked.
I couldn’t fathom a person who just digs up another person’s yard. The boundaries are clear. He had to come across his cluttered [...]

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New Cafe Blooms

Hello, Just checking in. Letting you all know I’m still here. DahliaFound has been picking up business and I’m so happy. So I’ve been shopping and trying to get more posted. It never ends.
Meanwhile, amidst the world havoc I thought I’d take a minute today to appreciate my flowers. I’ve been gardening now for a [...]

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Blending In

This guy–or gal–has been hanging out in my lavendar. Earlier this week he was green, now he’s blending in to the falling leaves. Nature is  pretty amazing.

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Squash Blossoms & Joyous Gardens

I replanted my compost pile that was sprouting all kinds of interesting buds into one of my raised beds and it has suddenly found it’s roots, so to speak. Squash blossoms have appeared and some have already moved onto some kind of squash, to be determined later. They could be anything, pumpkins, yellow squash, green [...]

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Home & Garden

I am reading a beautiful book, one you will love especially if you like gardening: Paths of Desire, by Dominique Browning. She is the editor-in-chief of House & Garden, but a fine memoirist too. I couldn’t resist the title of her first book: Around the House and in the Garden: A Memoir of Heartbreak, Healing [...]

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Fickle Weather Waiting

We are experiencing very fickle weather. Yesterday, beautiful sunshine. Today we are back in the deep freeze zone. I’m not complaining. I like winter. I just need to prepare for my Valentine’s Showcase on the 9th. I have photos to shoot! This requires sunshine. The cute men are picked (however, cute men can be fickle [...]

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